Harmon auger fails to turn

[JayK]

First off, thanks to all the smart folks who take the time to help others! I heat a drafty 250 sf. beach cabin with Harmon 'Accentra'-2 pellet stove. For three years it performed flawlessly. Recently the ignitor failed so I have been starting the stove manually. Now I am frustrated by an auger that frequently fails to turn. Prior to starting I set the feed rate knob to test, filling the auger and lower area of the burn pot. I then fill the burn pot, light the starter and all seems well. After an hour or so of normal operation the auger fails to turn and the fire dies down to a few dime-sized embers down at the auger. The feed motor light cycles on and off as normal 5 or 6 times but nothing moves, no motor or auger noise, the distibution blower stops as well. Finally, the auger turns, pellets are fed and the fire returns, the distribution blower starts and all is well. This cycle can occur every hour or not at all. I have always used premuim pellets from a PFI source (Manske's 'Cleanburn', Tacoma,Wa.) and see no change in the pellets but there may be something I do not see. I've been good about doing the seasonal maintenance and cleaning and saw nothing amiss last fall.
My questions are these;
Should the ignitor have failed in 3 seasons?
Can the ignitor be tested beyond cleaning the chamber and it remaining cold?
Is there an ignitor at a price better than $80.00 quoted by the dealer?
If the auger is mearly bound by a rouge pellet that burns away, is the motor protected from overload or burn-out while stuck?
Any thoughts and suggestions will be appreciated.

 

[HarryBack]

First off, thanks to all the smart folks who take the time to help others! I heat a drafty 250 sf. beach cabin with Harmon 'Accentra'-2 pellet stove. For three years it performed flawlessly. Recently the ignitor failed so I have been starting the stove manually. Now I am frustrated by an auger that frequently fails to turn. Prior to starting I set the feed rate knob to test, filling the auger and lower area of the burn pot. I then fill the burn pot, light the starter and all seems well. After an hour or so of normal operation the auger fails to turn and the fire dies down to a few dime-sized embers down at the auger. The feed motor light cycles on and off as normal 5 or 6 times but nothing moves, no motor or auger noise, the distibution blower stops as well. Finally, the auger turns, pellets are fed and the fire returns, the distribution blower starts and all is well. This cycle can occur every hour or not at all. I have always used premuim pellets from a PFI source (Manske's 'Cleanburn', Tacoma,Wa.) and see no change in the pellets but there may be something I do not see. I've been good about doing the seasonal maintenance and cleaning and saw nothing amiss last fall.
My questions are these;
Should the ignitor have failed in 3 seasons?
Can the ignitor be tested beyond cleaning the chamber and it remaining cold?
Is there an ignitor at a price better than $80.00 quoted by the dealer?
If the auger is mearly bound by a rouge pellet that burns away, is the motor protected from overload or burn-out while stuck?
Any thoughts and suggestions will be appreciated.

Well, it could be a few things, but Im leaning toward being dirty...sorry. Have you removed the heat exchanger cover plates and cleaned back there? If they plug your stove wont feed. Have you cleaned your pipe? If its almost plugged or partially plugged, it wont feed either. have you cleaned around your ignitor (removed the cover and cleaned it out?)....this will cause it not to light. Other things....your vac switch could be on the fritz, as well as your ESP probe. It seems to me the ignitor can be somewhat expensive....was thinking more like $60 rather than $80, but Im home right now, so cant tell you. We are working on a priced parts list on our website, but its not done yet. Failing in 3 seasons? Maybe....Ive seen them fail brand new, etc. Test it by trying to start the unit and after a cycle or two, feel the burn pot and see if its warm. If its cool/cold, most likely the ignitor isnt working. If the stove is still under warrantee (3 years from date of purchase), it should be covered as well.
Its unlikely that the auger would be stalled with a pellet, most likely would shear off. Have you cleaned your fines compartment?
Also, pull out the slide plate and make sure its clean, and not covered with a tarry goo. Enough goo will stop the unit from feeding. Let me know if thats the case. Pretty uncommon and not worth mentioning here. The motor has no thermal protection......generally you'll crash the gearbox of something un-cuttable gets stuck.....but since in test mode it feeds, its likely not an obstruction.
Is your bin rat-holing? thats alot of fines causing a cavity or void where pellets dont naturally fall down. This is pretty common.
Let us know.

 

[GVA]

First forgive me if I ramble here I have had 3 hours sleep in the last 2 days, so I may read this tommorrow and not understand it myself.
Wow lot's goin' on here like Harry said could be many things happening here.
First ignitor... If you do a resistance check she'd be over 1 ohm and probably less than a thousand
I don't know the wattage of the ignitor but if its 500 watts the resistance should be around 29 ohms.
Anyway if you check it and it's between (let's just throw out a arbitrary #) 18 and 40 ohms your ignitor is probably good...
So if the ignitor is good it's either covered with ash or the burn pot has a buildup of clinkers insulating the pellets.
May not be the vac switch for the ignition problem, but could be for the feeder problem.
If you put it in test and the auger turns,,,,,, as soon as you open the door the auger stops... This is the vac switch shutting off the auger (and ignitor)
So when you start up the stove and the feed is working fine then the stove heats up after an hour or so perhaps the heat of the stove could allow the gaskets to leak when the door is expanding, thus after it cools down a bit the vac switch closes again and the motor feeds.. Check your gaskets and maybe the door latch..
Next, what mode are you running in stove temp or room temp?, what posistion is the ignitor switch in manual or auto?
Could be the ESP maybe you should have the dealer do a quick check with the DDM, and find out what the stove is seeing...
Next that auger motor will chew through a pellet like nothing, somthing will bend or you will throw a chain before those gearmotors bind..
Just wondering when you put the stove to test do pellets enter the burnpot soon after...... or do you have to cycle it a couple of times?
AND FINALLY
Make sure that stove IS clean and the pipe is clear I'll throw a link here in a minute for you for your stove cleaning...... I recommend doing this between every 25-35 bags of pellets for best performance.


I'm back..
Do you have a copy of this?
(broken link removed to http://www.harmanstoves.com/maintenance/accentracleaninginstructions.pdf)